Syracuse, N.Y. -- With only one of two rinks in operation at the Lysander Ice Arena, high school teams and youth hockey clubs find themselves scrambling for ice time while sharing one skating surface.

At least five organizations are affiliated with the arena, originally built in 1990, including hockey programs at Baldwinsville and Liverpool high schools. The rinks also are utilized by Lysander Youth Hockey, the Syracuse Blazers and the Syracuse Figure Skating Club, as well as host to adult hockey leagues. The facility on West Entry Road also houses the Palm Isle Sports Bar.

Jim Muscatello, who manages the arena, confirmed that rink one, the older of two skating surfaces, is down and in need of repairs.

“Right now, everyone still fits,” he said Tuesday when asked about the potential crunch for ice time. “Everyone is still able to skate. It’s not an ideal situation, but it still works.”

Tony Bird, president of the Syracuse Blazers club that skates under the Syracuse Youth Hockey Association banner, said finding enough ice time for all of the groups who have contracts for ice time will be difficult.

“It’s going to be really, really tough,” Bird said. “We are trying to accommodate everybody with one sheet of ice.”

Bird said the equipment that keeps the ice chilled on rink one needs major repairs. He added that the owners have said they cannot, or will not, fix the older rink.

Muscatello said the question of whether the rink would get fixed was one for the owners to answer.

Bird said he feels bad for Muscatello, who is stuck trying to reschedule all of the groups who have contracts for ice time. Bird said he has been in contact with a number of other facilities in the area about getting more ice time

Mark Lloyd, who has coached hockey at Baldwinsville since the arena was built, said teams and clubs will simply have to cooperate. The repairs to fix the older rink would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It'll all work," he said. "We'll make it work."

Lloyd anticipates that his team may get fewer minutes on the ice per session, but that can be made up by conditioning, watching more video and skating elsewhere once a week.

“We may potentially go somewhere else once a week to get more time,” he said. “But we’re going to be OK.”

Lloyd said the real problem for the school teams would come if the arena closed altogether.

The arena does appear to be on the market as a lease property. The property is listed as being up for lease with Bridgeway Commercial Realty. An online brochure indicates the arena may be partially or fully leased.

Efforts to contact listing broker Tom Lischak, were unsuccessful.

For years, the facility was owned and operated by the Town of Lysander. But it began to lose money, and the town sold it in March 2015 to DHD Ventures of Rochester, reportedly for $550,000.

The arena is listed as being owned by DHD subsidiary Home Ice 1 LLC and operated by WillCup Management. The management company lists a Rochester address, but the phone number is the main arena number.

Efforts to contact representatives of DHD Ventures or Home Ice 1 were unsuccessful.

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